1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to scanner technology, and more particularly, to a method and user interface for performing a scan operation for a scanner coupled to a computer system, which allows the user to acquire scanned images in an easier and more user-friendly manner.
2. Description of Related Art
A scanner allows a user to convert the printed matter on a document into a digital image for further processing by a computer. In the use of a scanner, however, it requires well-learned and highly-experienced users to do the image processing tasks properly. For inexperienced users, it usually requires a long period to learn, typically in a trial-and-error manner, which would make the training quite cost-ineffective since additional electricity and paper cost may be required in the training course.
The U.S. Pat. No. 4,837,635 discloses a method that allows the user to acquire a scanned image by first obtaining a primitive scanned image from the scanner, and then specify suited image processing settings such as size and scan area for the scanner to perform a second scan operation on the original document to thereby obtain a final scanned image. By this method, the final scanned image can approach closely to the image qualities of the original document. One drawback to this patent, however, is that it is quite inefficient to use since it requires the scanner to perform two scan operations on the same document.
FIG. 1 is a flow diagram showing the procedural steps involved in a conventional method to obtain a scanned image from an original document.
In the first step P100, the user interface for the scanner is activated. In the next step P102, the user interface commands the scanner to perform a primitive scan operation on the original document. The primitive scanned image is then displayed by the user interface for the user to make enhancements thereon.
In the next step P104, the user interface asks the user to specify suited image processing settings for the enhancement of the primitive scanned image, such as size setting and the desired scan area of the original document.
In the next step P106, the user interface activates the scanner to perform a second scan operation on the original document based on the image processing settings to thereby obtain a final scanned image. In the next step P108, the final scanned image is transferred to an application program for use by the application program.
It is apparent that the foregoing procedure has the drawback of requiring the scanner to perform two scan operations on the same document to obtain the final scanned image, which makes the image acquisition quite inefficient.
Moreover, the U.S. Pat. No. 4,837,635 is still quire insufficient in functionality to meet user demands in image processing.
In the use of many conventional image scan programs, it requires the user to have learned knowledge background in the science of image processing. Therefore, for unlearned and inexperienced users, it would be highly difficult for them to use these programs rightly, and requires the user to spend much time and material on training.
In summary, conventional user interfaces for scanner operation have the following drawbacks.
First, they require the user to have learned knowledge background in the science of image processing in order to properly carry out the image acquisition, which makes the use of the scanner quite difficult and user-unfriendly.
Second, if a user has no such knowledge background, the user needs to spend much time and material on training, typically in a trial-and-error manner, which would make the use of the scanner quite cost-ineffective.
Third, the U.S. Pat. No. 4,837,635 provides only limited functionality to the image processing, which would not meet user demands in high-end image processing.
Fourth, the prior art requires the scanner to perform two scan operations on the same document to acquire the final scanned image to be used by the application program, which makes the use of the scanner quite inefficient. It is desired that only one scan operation is needed.
It is therefore an objective of this invention to provide a method and user interface for use on a computer system coupled with a scanner for performing a scan operation, which allows the user to operate the scanner in an easy and user-friendly manner.
It is therefore an objective of this invention to provide a method and user interface for use on a computer system coupled with a scanner for performing a scan operation, which allows the scanner to perform only one scan operation on the original document.
In accordance with the foregoing and other objectives, the invention proposes a new method and user interface for use on a computer system coupled with a scanner for performing a scan operation.
Fundamentally, the invention allows the user to scan an original document without requiring the user to have learned knowledge background in the science of image processing, and also allows the scanner to perform only one scan operation on the original document. These features allow the use of the scanner to be easier and more user-friendly than the prior art.
The invention is designed for use with a user interface incorporated in a computer system coupled with a scanner for performing an automatic scan operation on an original document. The computer system runs a scanner driver and an application program. The scanner driver is used to drive the scanner, and the application program can process the scanned image as an image file.
The method of the invention includes the following procedural steps: (1) determining a set of image processing settings by a scanner driving program that are suited for optimal scan of the original document; (2) activating the scanner to perform a scan operation on the original document based on the image processing settings to thereby obtain a primitive scanned image which is then transferred to the scanner driver; (3) activating the scanner driver to perform an image-enhancement process on the primitive scanned image to thereby obtain a quality-enhanced image; and (4) transferring the quality-enhanced image to the application program for use by the application program.
In the foregoing method, the image-enhancement process includes a comprehensive set of image processing routines, such as automatic cutting, distortion correction, color calibration, and automatic character recognition. The quality-enhanced image is then transferred to the scanner driver in the computer system, and then transferred via the scanner driver to the application program specified by the user through the user interface. The application program can be either an image editing program or a word processor that can accept the quality-enhanced image as an image file.
By the invention, the scanner needs just to perform one scan operation on the original document rather than two scan operations required by the prior art (the U.S. Pat. No. 4,837,635). The invention is therefore more efficient than the prior art. After this, the invention will automatically perform an image-enhancement process on the primitive scanned image to thereby obtain the quality-enhanced image, without requiring the user to have learned knowledge background in the science of image processing in order to perform the image enhancement, and therefore no training is required. Since the user needs not to spend time and material on learning the operation of the scanner, it makes the use of the scanner more cost-effective and user-friendly. Furthermore, the invention provides an image-enhancement process that includes a comprehensive set of image processing routines which would meets most user""s demands in image processing.